Innes, Lora – The Dreamer #1

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The Dreamer #1

If there is any justice in the small press comics world, Lora will be a successful comic writer/artist in no time.  I picked this up at SPACE 2009, and it was put out in October 2008.  She had #1-5 available at her table and the graphic novel collecting all these books should be out soon.  Granted, this isn’t a self-published mini.  IDW is a fairly established publishing company at this point.  Still, she clearly didn’t get the memo that small press folks are only supposed to put out 2-3 books a year.  So fine, her production level is admirable, how about the quality of the actual comic?  She mentioned something about going to a Disney-themed art school, but she seems to have mostly come away with a serious level of artistic skill without picking up the cutesy, obnoxious aspects of the Disney style.  Granted, the males are often as pretty as the females, but a little bit of facial hair here and there should clean that up.  This is the story of a young girl in high school who wakes up after a particularly vivid dream.  She’s in a bit of a daze all day at school from this dream, even barely noticing when a guy she’s had a crush on for ages finally asks her out.  We get to see a bit more of her dream world when she goes to bed that night, and it apparently deals with a remarkably consistent stretch of time during the Revolutionary War and her romance with a young soldier.  Granted, this is all the first issue and things could fall apart from here, but it’s an intriguing setup, the dialogue is smart and funny, and as for the art, she’s clearly a pro.  This is definitely worth keeping an eye on and one of what I’m sure will be many things that I wished I’d picked up more than one issue of at SPACE.  $3.99